Lieutenant Colonel Mark Smith is an Australian Army Reserve Infantry officer with 20 years’ service. His service has included: Officer in Charge, Civil Military Operations Centre, Headquarters 1 Division; deployment to Timor Leste with a Combined Operations Liaison Team; deployment to Afghanistan as the commander of a mentoring team assigned to the Operations Coordination Centre in Uruzgan Province;and Operations Officer of Battle Group Cannan – one of the Australian Army Reserve’s ‘Reinforcing Battle Groups’.

He holds a Master of Military and Defence Studies, a Bachelor of Legal and Professional Studies, and credentials in business, management, policing, security and risk management. He graduated from the Australian Command and Staff College in 2013. In his civilian career, he is employed by the Queensland Police Service in its Public Safety Response Team and is also a member of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Australian Civilian Corps.